WCDMA preferred vs GSM AUTO PRL

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derekstaroba

Senior Member
Apr 12, 2011
57
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haturaya said:
As for my N1, GSM Auto PRL gives better battery life than WCDMA Preferred. On average, it gave 15 to 20% better battery life.
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Something I've read and been under the impression for a good while now is GSM technology is better than CDMA technology in a lot of ways. This doesn't make sense though because WCDMA is actually relatively recent. At first I thought it was because it's harder to unlock a CDMA phone and that may be the case but I'm not so sure. WCDMA is supposed to be compatible with HSPDA (Pretty much T-mobile as far as I know) which is supposed to be super fast though. Have you been able to compare the internet speeds?
 
M

mr_raider

Senior Member
Jan 4, 2008
151
0
Montreal
derekstaroba said:
Something I've read and been under the impression for a good while now is GSM technology is better than CDMA technology in a lot of ways. This doesn't make sense though because WCDMA is actually relatively recent. At first I thought it was because it's harder to unlock a CDMA phone and that may be the case but I'm not so sure. WCDMA is supposed to be compatible with HSPDA (Pretty much T-mobile as far as I know) which is supposed to be super fast though. Have you been able to compare the internet speeds?
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Click to collapse

I'm guessing the better battery life is not due to GSM being better, but that the poster is in an area where wcdma (3g) is marginal. In those cases, the phone will continuously hunt for better signal, depleting the battery. Changing to GSM preferred probably alleviates the issue.
 
H

haturaya

Senior Member
Dec 27, 2010
69
5
mr_raider said:
I'm guessing the better battery life is not due to GSM being better, but that the poster is in an area where wcdma (3g) is marginal. In those cases, the phone will continuously hunt for better signal, depleting the battery. Changing to GSM preferred probably alleviates the issue.
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I think that might be the case. At home, GSM signal is better than 3G, thus the saving it shows. But at work, both 3G and GSM are equal, hence doesn't make any significant different. One have to try.
 
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mbolinao

Senior Member
Dec 20, 2010
179
17
Manila
sheek360 said:
just conducted a test. I get no service inside of my sons school with my n1. i put my n1 on gsm auto prl and i left my sons n1 on wcdma preferred. we both walked in the school till we lost service. as soon as we walked out i was on full bars of edge. my son was on 1 bar of 3g. i wanted to repeat the test over and over again but my wife gave me "that" look. BTW my daughters moto cliq had full bars of 3g inside the school and outside the school.

kids are 8 and 10, they have never brought home a B. straight a's and always on the honor roll. they wanted android phones, my 10 year old chose the n1 and my daughter picked the cliq. wife has a bb till the mytouch slide is released! android family that roots together stays together lol
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haha! nice one!
 
M

mbolinao

Senior Member
Dec 20, 2010
179
17
Manila
Rusty! said:
You'll have to keep an eye on it, unless you change the build.prop, it will revert back to it's default setting.
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On my Nexus S, I noticed that when I choose WCDMA Preferred, it goes back to GSM/CDMA auto (PRL) right away after exiting the system page. (which s*cks because I don't want to root my phone to edit build/prop)

But anyway, when I choose WCDMA Only, it switches between WCDMA Preferred and WCDMA Only depending on signal strength. But it only switches on those two with this setting.

I'll continue to observe.
 
Y

ykphuah

Senior Member
Dec 17, 2009
417
38
mbolinao said:
On my Nexus S, I noticed that when I choose WCDMA Preferred, it goes back to GSM/CDMA auto (PRL) right away after exiting the system page. (which s*cks because I don't want to root my phone to edit build/prop)

But anyway, when I choose WCDMA Only, it switches between WCDMA Preferred and WCDMA Only depending on signal strength. But it only switches on those two with this setting.

I'll continue to observe.
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Yeah, I can't set mine to WCDMA preferred too, let me know if you manage to do it.
 
R

Rayj00

Member
Jan 24, 2012
12
0
WCDMA preferred - The GSM phone is capable of using both 2G and 3G data communication and when signal strength is low 3G is favored more.
GSM only - The GSM phone is capable of using only 2G data communication. When the 2G signal is too low you get nothing at all.
WCDMA only - The GSM phone is capable of using only 3G data communication. When the 3G signal is too low you get nothing at all.
GSM auto (PRL) - The GSM phone is capable of using both 2G and 3G data communication and when signal strength is low 2G is favored more. This one is a bit confusing to me since PRL is associated mostly with CDMA technology and not GSM technology.
CDMA auto (PRL) - The CDMA phone is capable of using both 2G and 3G data communication and when signal strength is low 2G is favored more.
CDMA only - The CDMA phone is capable of using only 2G data communication. When the 2G signal is too low you get nothing at all.
EvDo only - The CDMA phone is capable of using only 3G data communication. When the 3G signal is too low you get nothing at all.
GSM/CDMA auto (PRL) - Some phones are equipped with both GSM and CDMA capabilities. This setting appears to just have the phone attempt to stay connected to the data communication type that works the best. (Maybe the Samsung Galaxy S will take advantage of this???)
Unknown - If none of the above fit or the phone is acting weird as far as connecting to the carrier, you will see your preferred network type is set to this

When using the 'only' options you should still be able to make calls.

To put things into perspective, The Nexus One is set to WCDMA preferred as default and the Droid Incredible is set to CDMA auto (PRL
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Maybe a dumb question but what setting detects 4G?

Thanks,

Ray
 
taodan

taodan

Senior Member
Nov 27, 2011
978
232
LineageOS
The texasice's ICS ROM doesn't have the option to choose which network mode to use like the ones mentioned above. Does anyone know why? Will these options be included in future updates?
 
pr0x

pr0x

Senior Member
Aug 28, 2010
64
4
Hi I use IncertCoin 5.5.0 on my sensation, but WCDMA Preferred is default after reboot, is there an option to make GSM Auto PRL default even after reboot and not change it manually every time?
Thanks.
 
Rusty!

Rusty!

Senior Member
Jan 10, 2010
8,011
1,785
Portsmouth
You have to edit your build.prop

ro.telephony.default_network=4

I think 4 is the number you want, at least
 
pr0x

pr0x

Senior Member
Aug 28, 2010
64
4
It is 4th in the column but wcdma is set as 0 default, i have tried to set it as 3 and 4 and after hot reboot it still shows wcdma. Do i have to edit upper lines?
In the file it looks like this
# Default network type
# 0 => WCDMA preferred.
ro.telephony.default_network=0
Click to expand...
Click to collapse


Edit:
I saw the numbering somewhere and it was 3 for GSM Auto PRL, but still after full restart it doesnt work. Should some cache be erased for that and if signal is not so good is it really helpful to leave it on GSM Auto PRL anyway?
Thanks.

Sent from my HTC Sensation via Tapatalk
 
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    sheek360
    Had to hear it from the horses mouth, I called up HTC's tech support. I asked what was the difference between WCDMA preferred and GSM AUTO PRL. The gentleman I spoke to told me that they both have lots in common and that the only difference is that WCDMA preferred will favor 3G and GSM AUTO PRL will favor EDGE.

    He continued to tell me that WCDMA preferred needs to reach a low threshold to go straight into 3g from edge. GSM AUTO PRL has a higher threshold, or higher standard has to be met (db of 3g signal) before it will go into 3G.

    He mentioned that gsm auto prl will save the user a bit more power because it wont force the phone to continuasly hunt for a stronger signal. Typically this option gives our n1's a weaker signal and slower data speed. But he said it depends on our network in our city.

    I also verified this information with t-mobiles tech support. They were a bit vague though. But they did mention that WCDA preferred will prefer 3g and that gsm auto prl is its complete opposite and will only prefer 3g if the signal is strong enough.

    What do you guys think? Does this make sense?!?
    View
    7
    S
    sheek360
    Got this

    WCDMA preferred - The GSM phone is capable of using both 2G and 3G data communication and when signal strength is low 3G is favored more.
    GSM only - The GSM phone is capable of using only 2G data communication. When the 2G signal is too low you get nothing at all.
    WCDMA only - The GSM phone is capable of using only 3G data communication. When the 3G signal is too low you get nothing at all.
    GSM auto (PRL) - The GSM phone is capable of using both 2G and 3G data communication and when signal strength is low 2G is favored more. This one is a bit confusing to me since PRL is associated mostly with CDMA technology and not GSM technology.
    CDMA auto (PRL) - The CDMA phone is capable of using both 2G and 3G data communication and when signal strength is low 2G is favored more.
    CDMA only - The CDMA phone is capable of using only 2G data communication. When the 2G signal is too low you get nothing at all.
    EvDo only - The CDMA phone is capable of using only 3G data communication. When the 3G signal is too low you get nothing at all.
    GSM/CDMA auto (PRL) - Some phones are equipped with both GSM and CDMA capabilities. This setting appears to just have the phone attempt to stay connected to the data communication type that works the best. (Maybe the Samsung Galaxy S will take advantage of this???)
    Unknown - If none of the above fit or the phone is acting weird as far as connecting to the carrier, you will see your preferred network type is set to this

    When using the 'only' options you should still be able to make calls.

    To put things into perspective, The Nexus One is set to WCDMA preferred as default and the Droid Incredible is set to CDMA auto (PRL).
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse

    from here, http://www.google.ie/support/forum/p/android/thread?tid=6a327a95211ac789&hl=en
    View
    4
    S
    sheek360
    just conducted a test. I get no service inside of my sons school with my n1. i put my n1 on gsm auto prl and i left my sons n1 on wcdma preferred. we both walked in the school till we lost service. as soon as we walked out i was on full bars of edge. my son was on 1 bar of 3g. i wanted to repeat the test over and over again but my wife gave me "that" look. BTW my daughters moto cliq had full bars of 3g inside the school and outside the school.

    kids are 8 and 10, they have never brought home a B. straight a's and always on the honor roll. they wanted android phones, my 10 year old chose the n1 and my daughter picked the cliq. wife has a bb till the mytouch slide is released! android family that roots together stays together lol
    View
    2
    R
    RogerPodacter
    here is a really good explanation about the gsm auto (prl) setting from another forum. i'll quote and also link it.

    Originally Posted by icebike
    What that does Roger, is tells your phone to connect using EDGE, and obtain a Preferred Roaming List (PRL) from the tower, and THEN switch to 3G when a data channel is required (which in the N1, is pretty much always because people are checking mail etc all the time).

    WCDMA preferred has the phone try to find 3G directly. This takes more power until a connection is established.

    You can verify this in the 4636 display, below the Run Ping Test button. You will see the Network Type say EDGE, then, after a bit, it will switch to HSPDA.

    If your phone is near your computer speakers, you will hear edge chatter as it obtains its Preferred Roaming List. You may periodically hear a lot of EDGE chatter if you have nothing requiring a data channel running, because it might drop to edge and stay there for unexplained reasons.

    Depending on your towers and service availability, you may see no difference in this at all. I live in a strong 3G area, and this does not help me at all. In fringe 3G areas or in 3G areas where there are a lot of 3G phones (cities, near schools, etc) this will help quite a bit.

    In Edge only areas it saves a lot of battery by not searching for HSPDA when it does not exist.

    Note: I also see something of a speed test hit on GSM (PRL), but this may be just the speed test app doing odd things.
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse

    from this thread:
    http://forum.androidcentral.com/google-nexus-one/13037-wifi-turning-off-sleep-mode.html
    View
    1
    Y
    ykphuah
    Interesting, my Nexus S constantly drops the 3g connection (need to wait 15-30 seconds before it connects again), and I just realized its set to GSM/CDMA Auto PRL, will set it to WCDMA preferred and see.
    View

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